I used to be a con chair, but now am an agent to about a dozen celebrity anime voice artists. My main advice for anyone organizing a con is to ANSWER YOUR EMAILS. I find it unprofessional when you post a method of contact on your websites but NO ONE REPLIES. If a celebrity cannot contact you - they will for sure note that. If you are a bunch of volunteers that cannot handle answering emails then rather NOT post a method of contact on your webpage. There are many cons that my clients won't work with, because they find it insulting when we aren't given so much as a courtesy reply. Hope this helps!

Then don't post your email - or simply write above the email "does not reply to unsolicited emails." If your email is posted on your website then aren't ALL emails received "unsolicited?" That logic makes no sense. Someone has to send the first email. Either you contact guests in an unsolicited manner or guests contact you in an unsolicited manner.

Guests get dozens of unsolicited emails from conventions all the time - but since my email is posted publicly I always reply. I am also not a millennial - and they seem to be running conventions, which means a different culture of communication.

Celebrity guests should not be ignored. If you don't want unsolicited emails, then why bother posting your email on your main webpage? MANY conventions say flat out that they will not reply to guest requests. Therefor, it is clear to the agent and celebrity that cold emails are not welcomed. But to just post an email for your guest liaison and then ignore emails is beyond unprofessional.

Edited by TheNerdyAgent on 01-24-18 10:39 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

After one too many guests who would grief me for not inviting them when I sent a polite decline or would persistently badger me all year to invite them I had to stop answering them. I've had to put multiple guests and agents on my spam filter who don't get the hint that we are not interested in them.

The fact that you have a FAQ page and a clear explanation is exactly what is missing from most conventions. Bottom line, if you post an email address with no disclaimer, then it is RUDE and UNPROFESSIONAL to ignore emails. There is no such thing as an "unsolicited" email when you post a method of contact on your web page with no disclaimer.
It is also worth noting that there is a big difference between cosplay guests, self-published authors, extras and true "celebrity" guests. I find it odd that any true "celebrity" guest would be hounding a convention for an invite....I know my clients are busy doing voice over work and winning Emmy's to wish for me to hound a convention. I cannot imagine the the cast of Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z or Pokemon begging to be invited to a convention - and if they are - then it's likely because the convention was too rude to reply. When a "celebrity" reaches out, it would be advantageous to offer a courtesy reply - as they are the reason you have conventions to begin with, so it's in poor taste to dismiss their requests and dump them in a spam folder.
The general perception among voice actors that are ignored is that the convention has gotten too high on its own self - and has since lost sight of why it exists in the first place.
Again - this is just the direct feedback from clients - I don't speak for everyone, but I do believe that this sentiment is echoed by many.

Fair enough - but if it weren't for the voice actors, most conventions would be irrelevant. If you don't want unsolicited emails, then make it clear on your web page. If you post an email and a contact page - you are inviting unsolicited emails. And therefore it is unprofessional to ignore emails from ANYONE - let alone the voice actors who make most conventions what they are.

I work for social media for a con with ~10k attendees and we have a contact form on our website with various options on which department on who to email, but it's kinda frustrating to email sometimes, BUT the general customer service email usually should be able to direct you to the right contact person.

If they're not responding to emails, if there's an active social media presence on Facebook etc, then PMing them is the last result if the potential guest REALLY wants to push for it.

Just stating a fact. It's very simple. If conventions don't want "unsolicited" emails, then they shouldn't post their email address on the website. Posting an email address means that all inquiries are essentially "solicited."

If a con is understaffed and unable to respond to all emails - make that clear.
If a con gets too many emails to respond to, then clearly state on your contact page that you cannot respond to all emails.
It is unprofessional to post an email address with no disclaimer and then ignore emails.

As for cons being nothing without celebrities - obviously that is hyperbole - but the reality is that conventions are designed to celebrate fandoms - and the people who make those fandoms are largely why cons exist. That is a fact, not an insult.

If a con doesn't know how to practice business professionalism, then they should simply remove contact information from their website. Not sure why that is "rubbing people the wrong way." It's like business behavior 101.

I'm with the nerdy agent on this. Any respectable agent/celebrity wouldn't hound a convention. Sounds like something a desperate has-been might do - not a current working actor. And I can certainly see how that could be very annoying for convention staff.....ugh!

However, it's basic courtesy and professional to respond to emails if your email is posted on your webpage. Not sure how this is even debatable....If you don't want emails, don't post an email! simple solution!

Yeah. Literally. Your new account was created less than ten minutes after his post, was logged in from the exact same IP address he has used in the past, the IP address is from a geolocation that doesn't match the Florida location you put in your account's public profile, and your first post as a reply to this thread was within 15 minutes of TheNerdyAgent...which, considering how rarely this forum gets posts, is quite an unbelievable coincidence.

Or...it's not a coincidence at all and the person knows and works in my department. As for being Florida based...this may also come as a shock - we travel for work. Same IP address? Yeahhhhh our building shares a tech server.....

With all due respect, I'm not sure what the debate is. You are co-founder of Anime Boston - I would think you would be in agreement. Do you not agree that answering emails is professional? And that if you are incapable of fielding emails, add a simple disclaimer on your website.

Really not sure how anyone can disagree and be a working professional. The amount of debate on this forum over basic courtesy is astounding. What's more astounding is the implication that I am rubbing people the wrong way.... If conventions want to blacklist all emails from thenerdyagent (because I had the audacity to suggest that people act professionally), then no love lost.